How To

5 Steps for Surviving the Job Search Doldrums

It’s a slow time of the year for job seekers. Security recruiters offer advice on using the down time to put your job search in shape for next year.

By Katherine Walsh

December 06, 2007 — CSO — By Katherine Walsh

The period of time between Thanksgiving and the New Year is notoriously slow for job seekers. While some things speed up--perhaps your heart rate when trying to find a parking space at the mall--others, like lining up that interview for your dream security job, come to a screeching halt. During this month, companies are advertising fewer jobs, and employers aren’t conducting as many interviews to fill positions. It’s not just your imagination.

Many employers don’t post jobs at the end of the year because they don’t have the budget for a new hire, says Jeff Combs, practice lead of IT risk recruiting for executive recruitment firm Alta Associates. “If they are posting,” he says, “it’s because they want to get a pipeline going into the new year, when they have a new budget“--but they still may be slow to respond to candidates who answer their job ads. Combs says that out of every 20 clients with job orders for a recruiter to fill, typically only four or five of them are serious about actually hiring someone between now and the end of the year.

Even companies that are serious about the hiring process may find it next to impossible to get the ball rolling on the interview process. “With the stress, [holiday] parties, and people not wanting to lose vacation time, it’s difficult to get everyone mentally lined up for the interview process,” Combs says. Nevertheless, security job seekers can still take advantage of the hiring lull by using the time to regroup. Here are some tips on how to do that, between bites of pumpkin pie.

1. Reevaluate yourself.
Take the time to plan your search and be analytical about it, Combs says. “You’re marketing yourself when you’re looking for a new job, so take the time to brand yourself.” To do that, you need to understand what makes you better than the other candidates applying for the same job. “Think about what your differentiators are, and how you are going to define and articulate them,” he says.

You should also give some serious thought as to what you really want to do. Want to work for a larger company? Move from the technical realm into security management? “Ask yourself what your motivations are for wanting to make the move,” Combs says. “Do you want to do the same thing for another company, or do you want more responsibil

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